“Healthy Dawgs” at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy: Case Study
Participating in CDC’s Work@Health® Program Organization Background Before participating in the Work@Health® program, the University University of Georgia College of of Georgia College of Pharmacy’s (UGA COP’s) efforts consisted Pharmacy of programs that were operating independently instead of «« Established in 1903 collaboratively across the UGA campus. One program was Healthy Dawgs®, which the COP started in 2010 to help UGA employees «« Public flagship university reduce their risk of heart disease. For this program, teams of pharmacy students from the COP and health psychology students from the «« Industry sector: educational College of Education collect biometric data from participants before services and after the program. They also provide individualized counseling «« Location: Athens, Georgia and goal setting. «« 9,000 Employees Since the Healthy Dawgs With training and effort, program started, 194 UGA «« 50% women, 50% men employers of all sizes and employees have participated. types can plan and implement The COP also began working a workplace health program. with the university’s health Employers can learn from the center in 2013 to deliver flu The University of Georgia’s (UGA’s) experiences of employers like shots to students, faculty, and College of Pharmacy (COP) offers a the University of Georgia College staff through mobile clinics. doctor of pharmacy degree through a 4-year program that integrates of Pharmacy about how to Before COP joined the Work@ classroom, laboratory, and experiential plan strategies and anticipate Health® program, Healthy training in a curriculum organized implementation challenges. Dawgs was not being around both human physiology promoted as a campus-wide and diseases. The college also offers program. COP faculty had to approach each department supervisor, graduate studies in disciplines individually, and getting departments and colleges to participate associated with pharmacotherapeutic was a challenge. The program also lacked support from top campus research, clinical work, and administrators. administration. UGA emphasizes the Several colleges were conducting their own worksite health critical role that pharmacists play promotion activities, but none were working together in a on the patient care team, not only comprehensive way. Part of the problem was high turnover in dispensing medicines and educating leadership positions. Many people were serving on an interim basis, patients, but also helping prevent making it difficult for anyone to lead a more comprehensive, campus- disease and promote wellness. The wide approach to worksite health promotion. COP has supported employee health Two UGA COP employees, Assistant Dean Lori Duke and Public promotion efforts across the UGA Service Assistant Ashley Hannings, participated in the Work@Health® campus for several years. program’s hands-on training in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2014. They signed up because they wanted to expand the employee health services offered at UGA to create a more comprehensive wellness program.
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division of Population Health
CS257190T They needed ideas on how to move forward with a comprehensive program and advice on how to navigate Employers selected to participate in political environments like universities. Work@Health® were assigned to one of three models, all of which delivered the same The Work@Health® Program is designed to teach comprehensive workplace health curriculum. employers how to improve the health of their workers (and workers’ families) by using prevention and wellness 1. The hands-on model was an on-site, strategies that focus on chronic health conditions. instructor-led, 1-day training workshop Well-designed, science-based, and comprehensive held in one of six regional locations. workplace wellness programs can improve the health of 2. The online model allowed employers individuals and companies, lower health care costs, and to move through the curriculum increase worker productivity. independently over several weeks using a web-based learning platform. After the training, participants in Work@Health® received 6-10 months of technical assistance in the 3. The blended model included a combination form of coaching, webinars, and interactions with of hands-on and online learning strategies. peers. Duke and Hannings said they found the training on how to frame the benefits of worksite health promotion activities using concepts like “presenteeism,” which is when people come to work even when they are sick, to be particularly helpful. They also learned more about how to educate leaders at their university about the importance of worksite health promotion. In addition, they said that the training’s focus on assessment helped them learn how to frame messages to get support from their leadership, assess current activities, and inspire new ideas for future activities. Program Overview
Strengthening University Partnerships getting the word out about the program. The HR Since joining administrator agreed to help and was instrumental Work@Health®, one in promoting “Beat the Pack” across campus through of the COP’s biggest various communication tools band materials. accomplishments has Providing Employee Training and Education been strengthening Across the University its partnerships within After participating in the Work@Health® program, UGA. The program A pharmacy student providing smoking Hannings worked to raise employee awareness cessation counseling to a UGA employee. inspired Hannings and about healthy lifestyles and to educate them on Photo provided by UGA College of Pharmacy. her team to increase how to make lifestyle changes. Her team provided their collaborations across departments despite the worksite wellness training through UGA’s Center leadership challenges. While these collaborative for Training and Development. The training was efforts were going on, UGA decided to make its conducted through a brown bag series that offered campus tobacco-free. COP faculty seized this three sessions each semester. The center advertised opportunity to expand the college’s “Beat the Pack” the series campus wide and scheduled the sessions at program, a free 6-week tobacco cessation education lunchtime in a centralized location to make it easier and counseling program for students, employees, for employees across the university to participate. and the community that was adapted from a pharmaceutical company program. Hannings and her team were able to draw on expertise from across the university to help make COP faculty approached the college’s interim human the wellness trainings successful. For instance, resources (HR) administrator about marketing the faculty members from the Department of Family “Beat the Pack” program campus wide. The program and Consumer Sciences led sessions on nutrition. started in 2011 when UGA’s employee insurance plan By working with multiple departments, the team began applying higher premiums on employees who increased collaboration and investment in employee use tobacco. Hannings’ team had been having trouble worksite wellness across UGA. Page 2 of 4 Program Success
Like all of the employers From 2014 to 2015, UGA COP increased its total score participating in the from 90 to 94 out of a possible 264 points. Areas that Work@Health® program, showed improvements included tobacco control and UGA COP used the stress management, which are closely related to the CDC Worksite Health college’s efforts to improve heart health. Although ScoreCard to assess the its score increased only slightly, the college has extent to which it had implemented evidence-based interventions that Healthy Dawgtoberfest for UGA employees. Photo provided by UGA College of Pharmacy. evidence-based health were not in place before the Work@Health® program. promotion strategies These interventions include a written policy banning in place before and after training. The ScoreCard is a tobacco use on campus and stress management free tool that employers can use to assess their health programs for employees. promotion and disease prevention programs, identify UGA COP had a low score (5 out of a possible gaps, and set priorities across health topics. 33 points) on the Organizational Supports module, Strategies assessed by the ScoreCard include health which assesses the extent to which organizations promoting counseling services, environmental have a foundation in place to support and maintain a supports, policies, health plan benefits, and other worksite health promotion program (e.g., a dedicated worksite programs shown to be effective in helping to budget, annual objectives). Scoring in this area was prevent or mitigate heart disease, stroke, and related negatively affected by the high turnover in leadership health conditions. and the sporadic support for UGA’s employee wellness program.
CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard Overall Score In Wellness Programming, 2014-2015
Stress Management
Nutrition
Tobacco
Poster promoting onsite flu clinics for faculty, staff, and students. Source: UGA Health and Wellness website. Organzational Supports
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
2015 Score 2014 Score
Learning from Work@Health®
In a survey after the hands-on training in Atlanta, 3. Who should be brought to the table when all participants in the session with Hannings said building a wellness team. they understood how to apply what they had learned About 6 months later, participants were asked to in the training to their jobs and that they would be complete surveys about what they had done since able to use what they had learned at their jobs. After the training. Most (70%) said they had shared what completing the technical assistance portion of the they had learned in the training with others in their program, all participants were asked to list the top organizations, 60% had used it to appeal to their three lessons they had learned. Hannings said she leaders for support, 60% had established wellness had learned the following: committees, and 60% had already developed 1. How to assess program effectiveness. worksite health plans and were starting to take action. 2. The advantages of collaboration. Page 3 of 4 How Work@Health® Trainees in the Atlanta, GA Hands-On Model are using the Information They Learned in the Program
Shared it with others in my organization 70%
Established a wellness committee 60%
Engaged leadership for support 60%
Developed worksite health plan and began to 60% Pharmacy student conducting health screening for take action Healthy Dawgs program. Photo provided by UGA College of Pharmacy. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%
Challenges
UGA employees have reported an interest in and promotion of vaccinations for employees. worksite health and have responded positively to the Hannings and her team also established a relationship programs offered by the COP. However, the lack of with UGA’s Center for Training and Development, and permanent leadership to promote worksite wellness plan to use employee feedback to expand health and and a more comprehensive campus-wide approach wellness class offerings. remains a challenge. With leadership turnover in Another challenge is the lack of data about people key positions (e.g., HR administrator), maintaining from other departments and colleges who participate momentum has been difficult. in COP’s health promotion activities, like the “Beat Despite this challenge, the COP has made progress. the Pack” program. Assessing the level of change For example, the college has worked with the resulting from the college’s efforts campuswide is university’s health center to streamline the purchase difficult without comprehensive data.
What’s Next?
Over the next 12 months, UGA COP has planned the following activities for worksite health promotion: •• Continue to expand partnerships across campus to support health promotion activities through the Center for Training and Development. •• Use evaluation data and feedback from employees to expand efforts with the Center for Training and Development. •• Continue to promote the “Beat the Pack” program campus wide. •• Find ways to better integrate worksite health promotion with COP’s current curriculum revision efforts.
The Work@Health® employer-training program is an initiative of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote workplace wellness through employer education, training, and technical assistance. Work@Health® training provides employers with knowledge and tools through a comprehensive curricula to promote good health in their work places to prevent or reduce chronic illness and disability, and improve productivity.
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